How I Spent my Birthday

I spent my birthday going to the dentist in Front Royal. I wouldn't have minded except that it turned out to be an unseasonably warm day and I wished I could spend some time soaking up the sunshine. By mid-day the temperature was 60 degrees F.

But I spent almost three hours in a dental chair. I needed a crown and a filling, and Dr. Z. found a bit of decay in an adjacent tooth that needed an inlay.

I avoid novocaine because it makes me nauseous (and uncomfortably numb), and while drilling without it is painful, it's only for a minute -- really only a few moments longer than the time it takes enduring the long needle.

One neat thing: this dentist has a machine that makes crowns while you wait. He models the crown on a laptop and shows you the picture, then sends it to the machine, where you can watch it sculpting the porcelain.

By the time I got out of there, I was tired and hungry. We got some Chinese food, which was soft enough to eat with sore gums. We shopped for groceries and came home. We'll do a nice birthday dinner later this week. Monday night is not a great night to go out anyway.